


TAZ Swap Lunar Interlude III

by asexualautistic



Series: TAZ Swap [1]
Category: The Adventure Zone (Podcast)
Genre: Roleswap, Tazswap, The Adventure Zone Swap, This depressed me thinking about it but its not a depressing story, taz swap
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-05-22
Updated: 2019-06-05
Packaged: 2020-03-09 12:04:04
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 2,388
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/18916618
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/asexualautistic/pseuds/asexualautistic
Summary: This is an AU of The Adventure Zone where characters are swapped with others. Lunar Interlude III! Rest and Relaxation!





	1. Lup Teaches Angus Magic

**Author's Note:**

> This is my first time posting fic, so I would love some (kind) feedback!  
> As of writing this I am not finished with TAZ (but almost am)  
> I am hoping to do this for all of the TAZ Balance Arc some day.

It's been about three weeks since we saved the world from the Transmutation Stone. We are now spending some time on hobbies and self care. So, of course I decided to help the young detective Angus with some spell-casting. He has been interested in it since he saw me cast fireball at the fire crab on the Rockport Limited. Also, I feel bad about how my ‘friends’ have been treating him. I did return his silverware though after that mess of a journey. 

I told him that I would be teaching him in the Cafeteria, which, oddly, is empty today. I shrug my shoulders and shake it off.

“Miss Lup! Miss Lup! Today is the day you said you’d teach me magic!” I turn to see Angus running in holding up a pretty crappy wand.

“Hey kid, tone it down a bit. But, yes, I will be teaching you magic. First, though, we need to get you a better wand”

“What? But Leon gave me this!”

“Huh… I thought there was a rule against giving magical items,” I mumble. I then reach into my bag of holding and produce my old wand which I then hand to Angus. “Here, this should serve you better than that thing”

Angus looks sad, for some reason. I shrug. “Well, today we wont be using that wand, anyways. I will be teaching you a cantrip”

“Not… Not using the wand? But I thought you need wands for magic”

“No. That's one of the most common misconceptions about magic, you see. Magic comes from within. The wand is just channeling and amplifying what you already have. If you cannot use the magic you have inside, the wand will be practically useless. What would happen if someone disarmed you in the middle of a battle? You would die.”

“Oh…” 

Shit, I think I scared him.

“Well, today I will be teaching you Fire Bolt. One of my favorite cantrips.”

“Shouldn't you be teaching me something less… destructive?”

“Offensive magic is very important”

“I guess so.”

“What do you know about magic?” I ask the child.

“Well I know the different schools of magic, that transmutation changes things, that necromancy reanimates things, that illusion creates illusions, that-”

“Alright, got it. Fire Bolt is an Evocation cantrip. It has an instant effect. Basically, you're throwing fire at someone.”

“Should we be doing that indoors? Miss Lup, what if something catches fire?”

“Then I teach you Frostbite as well, two lessons in one.”

“Okay”

I spend a while attempting to teach him the spell. I teach him the incantation. It takes ten minutes for him to conjure a half burnt ball of ash. I do praise him and put out the small fire it started on the table. Angus looks upset.

“Hey kid, what's wrong?”  
“That was terrible… I can't even properly light a fireball”

“It wasn’t terrible! It was your first try. You created something out of nothing! That's magic baby!”

“What was your first spell like?”

“Oh, that…” I scratch the back of my head and begin to tell the story. 

 

“I used to be a famous traveling chef, nobody really paid any attention to me at first so I started trying out evocation magic to add some pizazz to it. That started to turn heads. I mean, nobody really cares if you just light the stove. Anyone can do that, right? But when you light the stove using a magic fireball? People go crazy and eat that shit up.”

“Yeah! That's amazing!”

“Well I wasn’t very good at it at first. But as I got better, I got more powerful. And, well… something bad happened.”

“Well, absolute power corrupts absolutely! As my grandpa said”

“Um… well that's not exactly what happened, but its a good point”

“Why don’t you cook anymore, miss?”

I sigh, I don't like telling this story. No matter how many times I tell it, it never gets easier.

“Well, the fireball… I lost control of it… and it hit many people… and people, well, people on fire tend not to live very long. So I decided to stop cooking around anyone I cared about until I can control my magic much better.”

“But you made those chocolate chip cookies at the Candlenights party.”

“I did, didn't I? Well… I guess I was just excited to be cooking again. And I didn't use my magics for that one.”

“You didn't mess that one up though, why not start cooking again, miss.”

I laugh a little. “Well, I do see a bit of your sleeve is singed. Maybe the cookie did it,” I am trying to change the conversation. I don’t like talking about this.

“No- No it isn’t!”

“Well, lets get back to casting.”

 

We continued to work every day for a week, and by the end of the week Angus runs into the cafeteria excited.

“Woah there, calm down kiddo.”

“Miss Lup! Miss Lup! Look!” he holds out his hand. There’s a small fire in it. I recognize the cantrip as Produce Flame.

“Good Job! Congratulations!”

“T-Thank you miss!”

“If you keep it up, maybe you’ll become a better wizard than I am!” I say as I point a finger at him. I lower my voice, “And when that day comes, little man, oh when that day comes... I will summon whatever powers I still have at my disposal, that you have not siphoned away from me, and I will take all of my canny and all of my cunning and all arcana still within my reach, and I will use it to strike you down. Little man, don’t ever, EVER, again challenge my power.” I pause for a moment then laugh, “Just kidding. Just trying to practice for my next live appearance.”

“O-Oh okay…. C-Can I get tickets?”

“Can’t you conjure them yourself yet?” I laugh, “Of course you can, then”

Angus then takes out a small box and holds it out to me.

“I made these for you, since you've done so much to help me.” He says, handing it to me.

I open the small box, inside there is a dozen chocolate chip cookies. I take one and bite into it.

“Wow,” I say through my mouthful, “These are pretty good. Though, you forgot to add sugar”

“I knew I was forgetting something! Maybe you could use magic to fix it.”

I hesitate, “Well, you see… Oh what the hell.”

I raise my Umbra Staff to begin casting the spell, but the wrong spell comes out. It casts Magic Missile instead. And the box of chocolate chip cookies is destroyed. The spell is so strong it jerks my body backwards.

“What the hell…” I mutter.

“If you didn't like them… I understand, but exploding the box... Miss, don't you think that's a bit much?”

“No- I didn't mean to… I was trying to cast Prestidigitation, not Magic Missile.”

And then my umbra staff begins to cast again, this time it is casting Scorching Ray at the wall. Its pulling my arm so my arm is straight out and it starts tracing a shape.

First it writes the letter “T” and then “A” and another “A” then a “K” and, finally, an “O.”

“What the… T A A K O, what does that even mean? What the fuck?”

Angus begins writing the letters down, “Amazing! A new mystery! It appears youve given me another wonderful gift!”

“Oh shit…” I sigh.


	2. Julia Learning to be a Rogue

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Julia watched Carey pull some sweet moves and wants to learn, meanwhile Julia teaches Carey some woodcarving.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This one follows canon pretty closely, but there's not much I can change here.  
> Julia and Magnus are swapped  
> Team Sweet Flips stayed the same.

I walk into the Bureau of Balance Training Dojo, its been a few weeks since that chaos with the grim reaper and the crystals. I decided to check on NO-3113 since she's been gone from the lab for a while and I wanted to see how she's holding up. She seemed pretty nervous her first few days. Also, I wanted to learn some sweet rogue moves from Carey.

Killian is training them, teaching NO-3113 the maneuvers, yelling code names and moves. They see me and stop, Carey grabs her towel and a bottle of water.  
“Oh, hey Julia, whats up?”  
“Sorry if I interrupted your training” I say, apologetically.  
“Oh, don't worry, its fine. We’ve been training for hours. It’s time for a break. NO-3113 is doing great. She has a skill for these things”  
“Are you sure I shouldn’t come back some other time?”  
“No. Now tell me, what's going on?” Carey is definitely not going to let me leave until I talk.  
I sigh, “Alright, can… can we speak in private please?”  
“Well, that’s not strange at all. But alright,” she turns to address NO-3113 and Killian, “break time, take ten!”  
Killian and NO-3113 leave the room, laughing and talking. I turn to Carey.  
“So uh when we were in the lab you pulled some pretty sweet moves and I wanted to ask you…”  
“Woah, Julia, I’m gonna stop you right there. You’re cute and all, but I’m uh… I’m spoken for”  
Oh no. She thinks I… oh no, usually I’m not this… nervous.  
“OH! No no no,” my face is starting to turn red and I laugh awkwardly, “that’s not what I meant!”  
“No?”  
“No! I just uh… I wanted you to train me! I’m always just swinging my axe and punching things! You’re so graceful! You jump around and uh… finesse. I just kinda… well, rush into things.” I am talking too fast, I probably stumbled on some of those words. This is embarrassing.  
“Yeah, I watched you do some dumb ass shit out there. So you want to learn how to be a thief?”  
“Well… I don’t want to steal things”  
“Being a rogue, a thief, isn't just about stealing Jules. It's about being sneaky. And you are just about the loudest and clunkiest person I have ever met, and I am a dragonborn.”  
“Oh well… uh”  
“So basically, are you willing to learn. I’m able to do it. But are you willing?”  
“Yeah. Definitely.”  
Oh god… this isn’t going well.  
“Well, we would have to have a uh… exchange. I teach you, you teach me.”  
“Alright cool, well. I can make you something.”  
“Yes! Can you teach me how to build something?” She seems excited.  
“Alright, sure”  
“Well it’s for someone important to me...”  
“Oh, who? I mean since it will be personalized”  
“Well uh… Killian.” She’s blushing.  
“Oh, when you said earlier that you were spoken for, you're dating Killian?”  
She nods  
“Sweet, okay. Well, what kinds of things does she like?’  
“Ducks… she likes ducks”  
“Alright! We can make her a duck shaped box, maybe with a puzzle built in. She seems like she would love puzzles”  
“She does! That sounds amazing”  
I smile. “Great.”

We spend a few weeks training. I’m not very good at the whole rogue thing, but I am improving over time. During this time, I also teach Carey how to carve wood. She’s not the best at it, but it’s a solid start.  
One of our training sessions involved me getting a bean from her hand, which I managed, but then she had my wallet. That lesson taught me to pay attention, and the importance of a good distraction.  
Eventually she challenged me to pick her pocket. I managed it, but she had a smoke bomb in there! Well, that lesson was to be careful and pay attention to what the target may have in their pockets.  
A few days later we are combat training. This is a fistfight, no weapons. I go in for a punch, and she grabs me and flips me right over her shoulder. I land on my stomach.  
“Oh shit, sorry I just meant to dodge”  
“No, its good,” I sit up, “It was a good counter.”  
She sits on the ground next to me. “So uh… how did you get that scar?”  
“Oh… uh…”  
“It’s important to the lesson, Julia”  
“I got into a fight.”  
“Yeah, I figured that much. You got hit?”  
“Yeah uh… well… I was protecting someone important to me.”  
“Oh, well today the lesson is that… sometimes you can’t always take the hits for others, Julia. I know its hard for you to do this, but you won’t always be able to take the hard hits”  
“But I want to protect-”  
“Julia. I know you want to protect them, but your friends are strong too. They can take some good hits too.”  
“But I dont… I dont want to lose Lup and Hekuba…”  
“I understand. Its rough, this lifestyle, but sometimes you have to let them protect you too. Hey, you know what? This has been a learning experience for the both of us.”

A few more weeks of training and I have managed to learn the basics of being a rogue, and Carey has managed to carve a pretty darn good duck. A bit rough around the edges, and sort of geometric, but it's a duck. I made the puzzle part of it, and managed to convince Lup to enchant it for us.  
“Hey, Julia!” Carey is running over to me one day in the lunchroom. She’s holding a wrapped box.  
“Carey? It’s not my birthday, what is this?”  
“A gift, for your graduation”  
“Graduation?”  
“From thief school!”  
“Oh...”  
I open the box. Inside there is an old worn down set of thieve’s tools, some lockpicks, metal loops, hooks. I smile. “Thank you Carey”  
She then takes a roll of parchment out of her pocket and hands it to me. “And here is your diploma!” she states while unfurling it.  
It’s obvious she made it by hand, it’s written in scratchy handwriting and has Carey’s signature at the bottom.  
“Thank you!” I smile, there are tears welling in my eyes, “This means a lot.”  
“You have earned it, you have truly learned a lot and put a lot of work into the Carey’s School of Thievery,” she laughs, “and I managed to make a decent duck. I can’t wait to give this to Killian”  
“Oh that's right, I made you one more thing…” I reach into my pocket and produce a small ring, it has a rose on it, made out of rosewood. “I was thinking you could put this in the duck, for killian. I had to guess at the size but… I think it should fit.”  
She smiles, “Alright, but only if you high five me right now”  
And we high five.


End file.
